Prolactin Levels In Newborns With Respiratory Distress

According to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, “In the United States, nearly thirteen percent of babies are born preterm, and many of these babies also have a low birth weight.” The baby may be put into the NICU for varies reasons. However, the most common reason that a child is put into the NICU is because he or she is

Infant deaths in the neonatal period are caused by complications arising from preterm births, birth defects, maternal health conditions, complications of labor and delivery, and lack of access to appropriate care at the time of delivery. Infant deaths in the post-neonatal period are driven by sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) (including sudden infant death syndrome [SIDS]), injury, and infection (MMRW, 2013). An increasing proportion of post-neonatal infant deaths occur among infants who were born preterm but survived the neonatal period (Callaghan, 2006). On the other hand there is lesser knowledge of the incidence and etilogy of fetal mortality which according to MacDorman et al, makes fetal mortality an overlooked public health issue. Lee et al, echoed the same idea when they said infant mortality has been the main focus of public health programming while fetal deaths have gone untargeted. However, with the decrease in infant mortality rates there have been recent approaches such as perinatal period of risk analysis framework (PPOR) that highlight the need to include fetal

The patient population is the preterm babies that are less than 37 weeks’ and weight

According to the World Health Organisation [WHO] (2014) pre-term babies are at increased risk of illness, disability and death. It also states that globally 15 million babies are born pre-term and the figures are rising. In England and Wales during 2012 7.3% of live births were pre-term under 37 weeks nearly 85% of all babies born prematurely will have a very low birth weight (Office for National Statistics, 2012). Pre-term birth is associated with respiratory complications and lung disease, long-tern neurological damage and problems with bowel function (Henderson & Macdonald, 2011). Neonatal services provide care to babies who are born prematurely or are ill and require specialist care. It is seen that sixty per cent of infant deaths occur in the neonatal period (DH,

For the past two decades, the limit of gestational viability has been 22-24 weeks (Bhat, Weinberger, & Hanna, 2012). Around 50 years ago, a premature infant born between 22-24 weeks was not considered viable and resuscitation was only considered at 27-28 weeks (Kushchel & Kent, 2011). Medicine and technology advances have improved neonatology drastically and infants are surviving at lower gestational ages. However, many studies show very low survival rates of 22-week neonates and some physician refuse to resuscitate and provide only comfort care. In the NICHD Neonatal Network between 2003 and 2007, infants that were incubated and resuscitated had a 6% survival rate at 22 weeks and a 55% survival rate at 24 weeks (Bhat et al, 2012). Another study followed a hospital for many years were they delivered 85 infants at 22-week

These data revealed that a simple procedure, such as milking the umbilical cord before clamping it, had a significant influence on the blood levels of the neonate and can help to prevent future interventions from becoming necessary. This intervention, which can be done right in the delivery room, can help improve the neonate’s quality of life.

In this article, DiBlasi argues that the conventional method used to provide ventilatory support to preterm neonates with respiratory distress syndrome; nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is ineffective. The author bases the claim on the fact that almost half of the infants supported by this technique often develop respiratory failure that warrants invasive ventilatory support and endotracheal intubation that is injurious in nature. According to the author, invasive ventilatory procedures should be avoided to minimize the excessive complications that are usually associated with them.

Chronic hypoxic events during pregnancy associated with mild to moderate maternal hypertension have shown however to sometime accelerate fetal lung maturity and surfactant production leading to a decrease in neonatal respiratory complications. (Kim, Vohr, & Oh, 39) This due to cortical steroid secretion that stimulate an increased production of surfactant in response to the stresses of hypoxic events. (Porth, 1306)

As a newborn makes their entrance to this world from intrauterine life all should go smoothly. The newborn is delivered and is stimulated to breathe and then is followed by inspirations, followed by a cry showing a successful arrival to this world, but not all deliveries go as planned. There are diseases of the respiratory system. The most common disease is Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS). The Primary cause of RDS is the underdevelopment of the premature lungs states Perretta, 2015. RDS is caused by a deficiency and immaturity of alveolar surfactant with the anatomical immaturity of the premature infants lungs. The incidence of RDS increases with decreasing gestational age says J. Haitsma, 2010. The biggest factor is surfactant deficiency caused by decreased surface area in the lungs for proper gas exchange and thick alveolar-capillary membranes. “Surfactant replacement therapy for preterm infants with RDS has shown to be a major breakthrough in neonatal medicine,” says J. Wirbelauer and Speer, 2009. It has become routine for the prevention and treatment for infants suffering from respiratory distress syndrome. Surfactant replacement therapy is a life-saving treatment for all neonates showing signs of RDS characterized by surfactant deficiency. By replenishing the lungs with an exogenous surfactant shows

Approximately 5% of infants born through MSAF develop meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS). About half or more of the affected childrens need mechanical ventilation because of MAS which is severe. It is characterised with pulmonary air leaks and the presence of persistent pulmonary hypertension. MAS is the a common disorder in which neonates are treated with extracorporeal life support. Many management stratagies exists to prevent MAS during parturition, labor, and the first minutes of life. The frequently used treatment is antenatal therapies include amnioinfusion; intrapartum maneuvers include oropharyngeal suctioning prior to delivery of the babies shoulders; the postnatal intervention of intubation for intratracheal suctioning for the non-vigorous meconium-stained

According to this study, blood was obtained for this research through catheters that were inserted through the umbilical artery and the umbilical vein to obtain the levels of oxygen in blood. The neonates used for this study included neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit. Included in this study were neonates that were born with respiratory distress

There is different methods to diagnose respiratory distress in the neonate. Diagnoses can be based on breath sounds, medical history, physical exams, arterial blood gases, chest x-ray, CT scan, heart sounds, and too much fluid in the body. The arterial blood gas will determine if the infant has enough oxygen in the blood. The chest x-ray will probably show atelectasis, reduce lung volumes, air bronchograms, and increase lung opacification. The patient will experience abnormal breath sounds. The infants will have shallow breathing, sharp pulling in of the chest below and between the ribs, frothing at the lips, blue color around the lips, weak cry, apnea, swelling of the extremities, decrease urine output, flaring of the nostrils, and grunting

(p < 0.05) between the two groups regarding their need for oxygen therapy. While no statistically significant differences (P < 0.001) regarding neonatal Hb, HCT, and RBCs at six day of age. While there was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) regarding their WBCs. The total bilirubin at 6th day of age significantly differ between DCC and ECC group. Three quarters (74.7%) of the ECC group had normal bilirubin level at 6th days of birth compared to 56% among the DCC group. Only 6.7% of the DCC group had bilirubin level above the 95th percentile compared to 2.7% among the ECC group. Where, the total bilirubin mean was significantly higher

The placenta is a major source of fetal prostaglandins and its removal after birth allows for the lungs to expand and become metabolically active, where most prostaglandins are degraded. This, in combination with increased pulmonary oxygen tension, in healthy full-term infants, normally causes functional closure of the ductus arteriosus within 15 hours after birth.

Preterm infants are born during the late cannalicular to early saccular stages of lung development, which corresponds to the period when respiratory bronchioles capable for gas exchange and type II alveolar